Analysis of Catastrophic Wind Damage to a Forested Site in Central Maryland

Abstract

Forests on the East coast have been relatively free from large scale damage caused by tropical cyclones over the past century, during this time many of these forests have become established secondary succession forests habitats. With some predictions showing an increase in the strength and occurrences of North Atlantic Ocean tropical, which could severely impact these forests, it is important to know how the forests themselves could add to this damage potential. This study investigated the significance of between the severity of damage, and the Diameter at breast Height (DBH) and Average Growth Rate (GR) prior to Hurricane Isabel in causing the damage. The main goals were to look for contributing factors in the damage of the test forest in order to better classify the future potential that similar forests on the East coast could expect. The investigation relied on in-depth data collected from one site over many years prior to and post damage event. The analysis was completed using logistic regressions, linear regressions, and paired t-test for such aspects as DBH, GR (before and after), and a combined sample set using DBH and GR and their impact on severity of damage. Results show that DBH had a significant impact on severity of damage for all genera sampled, and DBH when combined with GR also had a significant impact on severity of damage for all minor genera sampled. The correlation of the GR before and after the event was significant for all genera and all minor genera. The damage event was shown to have a significant impact on the GR before and after the event for all categories. Future studies could possibly look to compare this over various sites for the same event, as well as compare sites of varying elevations to better understand the effect of increases in wind speed on forest stands in close geographic proximity to on another.